The present invention relates to barbell racks, and in particular to adjustable barbell racks, such as are used for squat lift exercises.
Weight lifters perform a variety of exercises in order to develop various different muscles associated with each exercise. One type of exercise involves the weight lifter squatting down in order to position himself under a barbell, and lifting the weight on his shoulders. Such exercises develop the leg and back muscles in particular, and are normally performed with the barbell initially resting upon a supporting exercise rack. The exercise rack holds the barbell on two, laterally spaced apart racks while the weight lifter positions himself between these racks in order to lift the barbell. The adjustment of the exercise rack is dependent upon the particular type of exercise to be performed, and the physique of the particular weight lifter. The two support racks may be required to be shifted laterally so that the weight lifter may vary the placement of his hands upon the supported barbell. It may also be necessary to vary the height of the initial position of the barbell in order to accommodate weight lifters of different heights, or to permit different exercises to be performed.
Problems encountered with the adjustment of such exercise racks are particularly troublesome during competitive events. During such events, numerous weight lifters make use of the same exercise rack, and delays in adjusting the rack slow down the competition. These delays have a deleterious effect upon the spectator appeal of the sport. Further, during many competitive events, a weight lifter has only a fixed amount of time in which to commence a lift, and therefore has a very limited amount of time in which to alter the rack position, if at all. During such competitive events proper rack adjustment has a psychological effect upon some weight lifters' performance, as well as actually physically effecting the weight lifter's ability. Therefore, an exercise rack that is quickly and accurately adjustable is highly desirable.
Heretofore, most exercise racks have made use of two separate stands as a pair of vertical supports, each of which includes a cradle or rack to hold the barbell. The stands must be separately positioned, and usually include a weighted base that prevents the rack from tipping over. Although the weighted base is necessary for the stability of the rack, the weighted base also makes it difficult to change the spacing of the barbell supporting cradles. Normally, the barbell supported by the racks must be manually removed prior to adjustment of the cradle spacing, thereby further delaying the competition.
Exercise racks of the type described above usually include some mechanism for adjusting the height of the cradles, and thus the height of the supported barbell. Often these height adjustment devices must be independently adjusted in order to adjust the height of each individual vertical support. Many existing vertically adjustable exercise racks include telescoping vertical supports that must be manually lifted. Therefore, such exercise racks require that the supported barbell be removed prior to adjustment, the racks be individually adjusted by hand and then the barbell replaced on the racks. All of these separate adjustment activities reduce the speed and ease of rack adjustment. In one existing exercise rack, two vertical supports are each provided with a manual jack for raising the rack height, which is similar to those used with automobiles. Although this rack is an improvement over racks which must be manually lifted, with this exercise rack, two people are still required to simultaneously jack up the cradles if the barbell was not removed prior to adjustment to make sure that the barbell does not slide off of the racks.